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Razer’s VR revolt
HANDS-ON WITH THE WITCHER III
The open source headset taking on OCULUS Rift
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Can Lionhead recapture Albion’s magic on Xbox One?
Rare reborn: Banjo-Kazooie’s creators return
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#277 m a rc h 2015
ELITE: DANGEROUS LIFE IS STRANGE MONSTER HUNTER 4 ULTIMATE Gat Out Of Hell Dying Light
VR and the unlikely return of the interactive movie When Edge launched, a little over two decades ago, certain parts of the videogame industry were still in thrall to the concept of the interactive movie. It wasn’t until 1996, in fact, that Digital Pictures, the company behind the Senate-baiting, FMV-driven Night Trap, packed up its cameras and called it a day. It may be difficult to believe now, looking back at a Mega-CD title such as Double Switch (starring Corey Haim), but for a brief period this authentic fusion of interactive entertainment and Hollywood felt properly exciting, like a legitimate new form deserving of exploration. But then… pop. Done. Goodnight. In the background, though, the core concept continued to simmer patiently as it awaited some kind of revival. Now, it’s here, albeit in an unexpected form, thanks to Oculus. The company may not have even released a consumer-ready product yet, but Oculus’s entry to the world of virtual reality movie production demonstrates how much expectation continues to surround its technology, not least from parent organisation Facebook. And although this is experimental work at the moment, it’s not some flaky whimsy: the company’s new Story Studio is headed up by Saschka Unseld, a former Pixar man whose credits include Toy Story 3. Using the realtime rendering capacity of high-end PCs, his team’s variously themed work aims to show audiences what VR adds to a traditionally passive experience. VR faces a long road ahead. The technology as we know it today has its origins way back in the 1980s, but while head-mounted displays have come a long way since then, the issue of giving players a convincing sense of control in a VR context is without one clear solution. As discussed in our lead Knowledge story this issue, progress is at least being made. In the meantime, we can turn to something more tangible in Fable Legends. This month’s cover story reports from Lionhead’s storied HQ, and a team bent on resurrecting the glory days of a very British fantasy. 3
games Hype
Play
38 The Witcher III: Wild Hunt PC, PS4, Xbox One
98 Elite: Dangerous
42 The Long Dark PC 46 Project Cars
38
PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One
48 The Hunter: Primal PC
PC
102 Life Is Strange
106 Dying Light
PC, PS4, Xbox One
108 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate 3DS
50 Survarium PC
110 Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell
52 Galak-Z: The Dimensional PC, PS4, Vita
112 Kalimba
54 Hype Roundup
Explore the iPad edition of Edge for additional content
360, PC, PS3. PS4, Xbox One Xbox One
114 Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax
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360, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One
PS3, Vita
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sections #277
82
92
ma r c h 2015
Knowledge
Dispatches
8 Virtually essential
24 Dialogue
With OSVR, Razer is aiming to secure the future for VR games
12 A Rare reunion
Edge readers share their opinions; one wins SteelSeries hardware
28 Trigger Happy
How former Banjo-Kazooie devs plan to rewrite history
Steven Poole’s struggle to find the trigger in the enigmatic Resogun
82 Taking The Art Out Of Games
The Fries Museum’s New Horizons exhibition presents game art in a new context
88 The Making Of…
How LucasArts was instrumental in The Assembly Line’s plumbing puzzle game, Pipe Mania
14 Attract sequence
30 Difficulty Switch
16 Pulling power
32 Big Picture Mode
18 Soundbytes
145 Postcards From The Clipping Plane
116 Time Extend
106
James Leach contemplates sending Scrappy Doo to war
65daysofstatic’s Paul Wolinski on Amigas and No Man’s Sky
Features
120 Region Specific
22 This Month On Edge
Lionhead returns to Albion’s past in Fable Legends, hoping to bring back the series’ power to bewitch
We trek to Edinburgh to take in the Game Masters exhibition Chicago artist Willy Chyr is using games to explore gravity Religious experiences and a piracy endorsement in Australia
20 My Favourite Game
The things that caught our eye during the production of E277
Ian Bogost on the beneficiaries of Nintendo’s gaming revolution Who the fuck is Nathan Brown, asks Nathan Brown
58 Heavy On The Magic
92 Studio Profile
Inside Simogo, the Swedish storyteller that values craft and expression over financial returns A return to F-Zero GX, the futuristic racer that brought Sega and Nintendo together at last We head to Finland to discover the next moves of the European mobile gaming superpower
72 Deeper Reading
We investigate the rebirth of the text adventure, and talk to the people redefining the genre
58 74
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EDITORIAL Tony Mott editor in chief Nathan Brown deputy editor Ben Maxwell writer Matthew Clapham production editor Mark Wynne senior art editor Andrew Hind art editor Contributors
Eeva Anundi, Ian Bogost, Martin Davies, Mike Diver, Joseph Donnelly, Wes Fenlon, Richard Lane, James Leach, Alice Liang, Keza MacDonald, Angus Morrison, Simon Parkin, Steven Poole, Andy Robinson, Chris Schilling, Joe Skrebels, Alvin Weetman
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Regina Erak senior licensing and syndication manager (regina.erak@futurenet.com) Tel: +44 (0)1225 442244 Fax: +44 (0)1225 732275
Production & Distribution
Mark Constance production manager Frances Twentyman production controller Nathan Drewett ad production controller
Management
Daniel Dawkins group editor in chief Graham Dalzell group art director Declan Gough head of content and marketing, film, music and games Nial Ferguson content and marketing director Printed in the UK by William Gibbons & Sons on behalf of Future. Distributed in the UK by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT (+44 (0)20 74294000). Overseas distribution by Seymour International. All submissions to Edge are made on the basis of a licence to publish the submission in Edge magazine and its licensed editions worldwide. Any material submitted is sent at the owner’s risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future Publishing Limited nor its agents shall be liable for loss or damage. While we make every effort possible to ensure that everything we print is factually correct, we cannot be held responsible if factual errors occur. Please check any quoted prices and specs with your supplier before purchase. If you’re at GDC and see us past 2:00am, remember the rule, right? All contents copyright © 2014 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or used in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price and other details of products or services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any changes or updates to them. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage.
Want to work for Future? Visit www.futurenet.com/jobs Future, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)1225 442244 Fax: +44 (0)1225 732275 Future is an award-winning international media group and leading digital business. We reach more than 49 million international consumers a month and create world-class content and advertising solutions for passionate consumers online, on tablet & smartphone and in print. Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). www.futureplc.com
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Chief executive Zillah Byng-Maddick Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Richard Haley Tel +44 (0)207 042 4000 (London) Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244 (Bath)
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Specialist Magazine Of The Year
Knowledge OSVR
Virtually essential With OSVR, Razer is attempting to democratise virtual reality in order to secure the technology’s future in games
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a forum for developers to focus on the SVR, or Open Source Virtual Reality, content and not worry about the actual is the only thing standing between execution of how to do it.” the nascent VR market and a premature So how does OSVR accomplish this? death, at least if Chris Mitchell, Razer’s Sensics CEO Yuval Boger offers the product marketing manager, is to be clearest explanation on his VR Guy blog: believed. In his own words: “If we don’t “OSVR provides software plugins (think: build this, the virtual reality ecosystem will device drivers) for hardware that abstracts never survive.” It’s big talk for a project each type of hardware – such as head that, even after a press release, media orientation trackers, position trackers, eye briefing and one-on-one interview with trackers – and makes the interface the Razer, still feels nebulous. same for the higher-level application. Razer, of course, made its name with While the performance of gaming peripherals, ergonomic gaming mice “We need a forum different position trackers may be different, the and keyboards, but OSVR for developers interface to the application is not so tangible. The is basically the same. company’s plans do to focus on the While some eye trackers include hardware: a $200 content and not are better than others, the head-mounted display, application usually just which it calls the Hacker worry about the needs to know gaze Dev Kit, is due in the actual execution” direction, blink detection summer, and measures up and perhaps pupil size. By reasonably with the Oculus abstracting each type of hardware, the Rift DK2 unit. But the Dev Kit is not OSVR application does not need to change exactly – it’s a malleable headset meant when new hardware becomes available. to spur development of VR games. OSVR All it needs is a new plugin, the is actually a software platform. Led by equivalent of a printer driver.” Razer and headset maker Sensics, the aim is to make game development for VR devices more about the game, less OSVR already supports Unity about the hardware you have. Creators and Unreal Engine 4, which will allow will be able to hook into plugins for how developers using those engines to a game should look on one headinterface their games with various forms mounted display versus another, or how of VR hardware. Razer claims some big it should pull in data from various motionnames are already behind OSVR, too – tracking systems. And with a library of developers such as Gearbox and such plugins, developers won’t have to Techland, plus hardware makers Virtuix, be Carmack-level engineers to get a Leap Motion and Sixense – though it’s game running in VR either. unclear what all these companies are As Mitchell says, “The idea is to doing to support OSVR exactly. abstract the complexities of game Leap Motion, which creates PC development right now. We need motion and gesture control technology,
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Razer product marketing manager Chris Mitchell
OSVR’s library of plugins is designed to make VR games simpler to create
offers a degree of insight. “Earlier this month, we announced a Leap Motion plugin for OSVR,” says CEO Michael Buckwald. “In recent months, we’ve also demonstrated how our technology pairs with Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR, in addition to OSVR… We launched our VR Developer Mount last August, [which] provides a consistent way for developers to guide interaction, and it works with any VR headset with a flat front surface and a setup supported by our SDK.” Virtuix, creator of the Omni treadmill, offers a similar response. “We’re mainly focused on the movement aspect of VR – how can a user walk or run around in the virtual world,” says CEO Jan Goetgeluk. “In its basic form, the Omni emulates a typical gamepad that steers the avatar in the game. However, with the Omni, more advanced movement functions can be provided as well – one-to-one foot tracking, fully decoupled movements, advanced gestures, and more. Our contribution to OSVR is the development of a locomotion controller for VR that supports this range of motion functions.” Both are doing what’s best for their VR products, in other words. Which isn’t a bad thing – if it’s easy to get on board with OSVR, the platform is more likely to benefit developers. But it’s also unclear exactly how open and accessible OSVR is. Its website features a big orange ‘Join us’ button, and asks interested parties to sign up to be involved in the project. But there’s no publicly visible development community for OSVR. There are no forums, official subreddit, or github repositories, all standard for active open source communities. Surely those will come, but an application process
CYBER RAZER CUT How does the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit stand up?
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hile Oculus VR’s Crescent Bay prototype is the nearfuture of VR, Razer’s $200 Hacker Dev Kit, shipping in June, looks very much the present. Putting it on is a lot like wearing an Oculus DK2. The 1080p screen is high enough in resolution to be workable, but the pixel grid is prominent. Magnifying lenses sit between your eyes and the display, and require a little fiddling to be put into focus. Refresh rate, meanwhile, isn’t sickening, but it’s not as smooth as Crescent Bay, either. And there’s no positional tracking in space, which Crescent Bay has by virtue of an external camera. Razer has made some smart decisions in the design of its Dev Kit, though, with lens controls allowing users to adjust their focus easily. And while it wasn’t being demoed at CES, Razer’s hardware will be configurable and upgradeable: developers will be able to swap out the optics, the display, or most other
components to create a different headset. It all fits neatly into Razer’s plan to spur hardware-agnostic development of VR games. At CES, Razer demoed the Hacker Dev Kit with a LeapMotion camera clipped onto the front. The camera picks up hand motions and maps them in-game, allowing you to move your real hands around and mime throwing fireballs at a target that floats around a snowy woodscape. It proves hard to aim and track a moving object in threedimensional space, especially given the delay between physical and digital action. And the demo itself isn’t a game that would sell anyone on VR (unless being a goalkeeper in Kinect Sports sold you on Kinect – in which case, get ready to fall in love). But it does showcase the immersive potential of motion sensing in VR. When the technology improves, a game such as Myst could work beautifully in VR with nothing but motion controls.
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Knowledge OSVR
AR, she blows While Oculus Rift competitors were absent at CES 2015, several augmented reality headsets were on display. Where virtual reality HMDs aim to completely immerse you in a virtual world, AR headsets typically use a transparent display to layer information atop the real world. Gaming is, at least currently, in the realm of VR, not AR. CastAR, funded by a 2013 Kickstarter from engineers who worked on VR at Valve, was at CES with hardware that’s on its way to campaign backers. CastAR is the smallest HMD (AR or VR) we’ve seen to date, looking like a chunkier Google Glass than a Rift. The flashiest AR headset at CES, by comparison, was Caputer Labs’ Seer, looking like a cross between Nintendo’s Virtual Boy and a motorcycle helmet. The Seer headset runs off a smartphone, but unlike Oculus and Samsung’s GearVR, the smartphone screen doesn’t sit right in front of your face. Instead, it slots into the headset and has its screen reflected onto a visor, which gives you an AR overlay. Seer is an early prototype, with imminent plans for a Kickstarter campaign.
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as a barrier to entry may result in only more serious developers contributing. “OSVR is still at a very early stage, although it is usable right now,” Mitchell says. “The end goal is to make it so simple that developers would not have to spend much on writing code. We also hope to get contributions from the community so that when new devices come out, we don’t have to be the first to implement it. The community can add support [itself]. We’re not there yet. It’s fair to say we’re at an alpha stage. But it’s a working alpha.”
OSVR’s end goal of hardwareagnostic VR development pointedly Razer’s Hydra, offering six degrees of freedom, has been discontinued, but the tech is being used to demo VR proposes there will be an array of VR likely to be big sellers for Razer, OSVR Sensics CEO Boger in a Reddit Ask Me hardware outside of Oculus Rift. It represents a gateway to build a popular Anything focused on OSVR, the company assumes that the consumer Oculus Rift VR peripheral – perhaps even the de didn’t attempt to get Oculus on board headset will be a flavour of VR hardware facto input device for VR gaming, which before the launch. “We did not contact rather than a platform unto itself. And yet is still a crucial unsolved problem. Oculus prior to announcing OSVR but there is currently no serious competitor for “On the peripheral side and the HMD would welcome their contribution and Oculus Rift bar Sony’s Project Morpheus, [head-mounted display] side, there’s a participation in it,” Boger said. “We are which targets a very different platform. ton of different technologies being thrown not anti-Oculus. We are pro-VR, and And OSVR likely won’t support Morpheus, around, and it’s very difficult to figure out Oculus has an important part to play because it’s removed from its supported what is the best technology for each of in the pro-VR movement.” OSes of Windows, Linux and Android. those things,” Mitchell says. “Once we Razer and Sensics may not be trying So is OSVR, or something like it, truly roll [OSVR] out and it’s in the market for a to compete with Oculus VR directly, but integral to the survival of VR? Or, at least, while, we’ll see the community coming in OSVR’s founders aren’t going out of their integral to the growth and prosperity of and trying different technologies. That’s way to work with Oculus, VR as a medium? when we figure out what’s the best either. There’s another That might be pushing “We are not technology to then bring into the concern, too: when it it. However, Buckwald anti-Oculus. consumer space, which is our ultimate comes to slightly nebulous points out that OSVR is a goal… Ultimately, what we’re interested projects debuted at CES, big plus for OEMs (original We are pro-VR, in is making virtual reality a reality. [That history is not on Razer’s equipment manufacturers), and Oculus has sounds] cliché and cheesy as hell, but side. At CES 2011, it which will potentially be that’s what we want to do. Get it to the introduced Switch Blade, able to build VR hardware an important consumer space, get it ready, and for us, a portable gaming system that stands a chance of because we’re not entirely altruistic, [the part to play ” with dynamic LED keys. It success in the market a aim] is to be part of the ecosystem on the won Best Of CES awards, few years from now. peripheral side of things. It’s not crucial but was never sold outside of China. At Without any OEMs in the picture, the for us to be in the HMD space.” CES 2014, Razer introduced Project VR hardware market may end up being Razer’s longest-lasting contribution Christine, a modular gaming PC system. small, featuring just Oculus and Sony to virtual reality is most likely to be that It won Best Of CES awards, but shows alongside a few much smaller companies inevitable peripheral, then: something no signs of ever becoming a real product. unable to compete on an even footing. combining Razer’s research into VR, its Razer’s Hydra motion controller, another Razer’s relationship to Oculus VR in Hydra, and more than a decade of CES darling, is no longer on sale. Razer all this seems strange, too. According to experience making gaming mice. In a is, however, using Hydra to demonstrate Razer, the OSVR SDK already supports way, that would solve a problem much VR, and we may see the controller Rift DK2, so there’s no real reason for like OSVR aims to. The sooner we figure returning in some form in the future. developers to make VR games exclusively out the best way to control virtual reality, OSVR, then, should be viewed with with Oculus APIs when they could the sooner developers can get on with some scepticism. But unlike Switch Blade develop for a broader range of hardware creating VR games that use it. n or Project Christine, which were never and support Rift, too. But according to
Walking on AR
As VR evolves, Microsoft throws in a curve ball
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t its Windows 10 event in January, Microsoft showed off a surprise addition coming to its platform called Windows Holographic. Holographic will run on a new HMD dubbed HoloLens. What Microsoft eagerly calls holograms, we’d rather call augmented reality. HoloLens is the most advanced AR headset that we’ve seen to date, even as a prototype. In the final hardware, Microsoft claims that the headset will be completely wiresfree, with battery, CPU, GPU and a third holoprocessor (dedicated to interpreting the data the headset pulls in by scanning its surroundings) all integrated into the device itself. The prototype hardware we’ve tried isn’t there yet: the processing guts are all contained in a unit that is slung around your neck, and the headset itself is still tethered to a base PC. The most impressive thing about the HoloLens hardware turns out to be simultaneously the most disappointing. The headset really does combine digital projections with what you can see of the real world, and at times – seeing the voxel cubes of a Minecraft fortress appear on a coffee table; using a virtual pick to break through a real wall and seeing a virtual cave behind it – that can feel incredible. It looks and feels unnaturally real, and that’s the potential of AR. But there are limitations, too. The HoloLens unit’s field of view is
confined to the centre of your vision, maybe 40 percent of all you can see. Orient that augmented area over the coffee table in Microsoft’s Holobuilder demo (essentially a stripped-down Minecraft), and you see a fortress and creepers milling about. Tilt your head to the side enough to move your centre of vision, though, and it all disappears, replaced by the mundanity of reality. In its current form, HoloLens isn’t nearly as immersive as a VR experience, and it’s more limited in terms of interactivity – Microsoft demoed a single midair finger click gesture for control, though it also supports voice commands. When it comes to games, however, VR (particularly Oculus’s Crescent Bay prototype headset) does a much better job of selling presence, since your entire field of view is wrapped up in a virtual world. Of course, that’s not the goal of AR, but until it has a broader field of view, HoloLens’s combination of virtual and real will feel constricted. Microsoft’s short demos also failed to convincingly show off how the headset will be able to read its environment, and how software will be able to integrate into reality. It’s exciting technology, but still unproven. HoloLens’s price and exact release date are still unknowns, too, though Microsoft plans to release the headset alongside Windows 10 some time in the second half of 2015.
HoloLens is the most advanced AR headset that we’ve seen to date, even as a prototype
For all the pitch video’s promise of your entire vision being transformed, HoloLens’s prototype form is letterboxed. It’s fantastic tech, but less engaging than full VR
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Knowledge Playtonic
A Rare reunion Core members of the Banjo-Kazooie team reveal their ambitious startup
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of Rare’s remaining elders – including ore than a decade after its sale to Price himself – cut in a self-claimed Microsoft, little tangible evidence methodology change. Another casualty now remains of the ’90s golden age of was 25-year veteran Chris Sutherland, Twycross veteran Rare. With most of its IP who was lead programmer on Donkey shelved in favour of Kinect games, the Kong Country and the Banjo-Kazooie former creator of charismatic shooters games. Artist Steve Mayles – creator of and platformers is almost unrecognisable Banjo, Kazooie and other characters – from the days when GoldenEye 007 left shortly after, and both soon found ruled the multiplayer scene. Price on the end of phone. One ensemble of Rare old guard has The trio secured three others to form pledged to reclaim what was lost in that Playtonic: Banjo-Kazooie environment $375 million acquisition. The six fullartist Steven Hurst, Donkey Kong Country time employees of Derby-based startup 3 and Kameo art lead Mark Stevenson Playtonic spent a combined 120 years at and software engineer Jens Restemeier, the studio, and now boast ambitions to who worked on Perfect Dark Zero. In create the type of games they might have addition, composer Grant Kirkhope has made had the keys not been handed pledged to support Playtonic’s projects. over to Marc Whitten in 2002. The group’s plan is to “Imagine there’s an build a proof-of-concept alternative timeline where “There’s so much demo and later upscale to Rare became independent an “N64-size” team of instead of being bought by pent-up passion. between ten and 15 staff, Microsoft. What would that We’ve all been sat for which Price claims he company be like? What already has even more would it have gone on on a lot of these “well known” former to become? That’s our ideas since Banjo- Rare employees lined up. ambition,” says Gavin Unsurprisingly, Price, one of the designers Tooie came out” Playtonic’s first project will of Viva Piñata and the man be familiar to fans of the group’s previous spearheading the new company. work. In Price’s own words: “Without “Rare as it is now with Microsoft is all giving the game away, I think it’s pretty right. I had some great times. But our aim obvious what kind of game we’re making is to make some really cracking games in from the history of the team. We consider the style that we used to make them, not it a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie. focusing just on certain types of games, We want to make a game where you but how we make them – that was unique control a fun character, learn new skills, to Rare and we know how we did it. add some new twists to the genre, and “I’ve wanted to do this for absolutely also listen to Grant’s tunes!” ages. I’ve been convinced there should Talk of a spiritual successor emerged be a classic Rare team somewhere among some former team members once making these old-style Rare games. It before back in 2012, but Price stresses was just a case of waiting until the right that the latest initiative has real substance. people became available.” “Last time it was a pub conversation – His moment arrived in the aftermath of nothing was ever acted upon. This time, Rare’s latest restructure, which saw some
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we’ve started work on the game, we’ve got funding in place to support us and we’ve got a longterm business plan,” he says. “There’s been so much pent-up passion for doing something like this, because we’ve all been sat on a lot of these ideas since Banjo-Tooie came out.”
From top: Gavin Price, Chris Sutherland and Steve Mayles, half of the Playtonic team
Among the team, there’s a mutual desire to recapture the autonomy that these developers claim was eventually lost at their previous employer. “For me, the appeal is that I’ll be able to create characters for a game myself again, creating a whole chain of animation,” Mayles says, “whereas at Rare now, you’re just a small cog… You have to filter through three of four different people before something is approved.” For Sutherland, it’s a chance to regain hands-on responsibilities. “The most important aspect will be the feel of the game and how it works,” he says. “I can spend hours tweaking numbers to make sure it feels right and fun to play. It should be fun to just run around. If you can nail that, then you’re on the right path.” The spiritual successor – or simply Game 01, as it’s called internally – is described as Playtonic’s “first objective”, after which its ambition is to tackle new genres, but only if its brainstorms lead there naturally. It’s this kind of organic creativity, just like in the old days at Twycross, that the new Playtonic team wants to recapture. “The remit for Rare as a firstparty studio was to do something that Microsoft really needed, as opposed to something that people wanted to make,” Price explains. “In my mind, I’ve been planning this new venture for three or four years. There are so many old Rare employees around that I thought we should be doing something for ourselves by now.” n